I was wondering what the idle rpm should be. It is a completely stock 400 with petronix ignition and an edelbrock 750 with an electric choke. car is an automatic. Any info would be great. As of right now, with an old dwell/tach reader it idles around 550-600 RPM.
That seems high....it idles good at 600.....but I'm using an old dwell tach meter so I will hook a newer one up before I change the idle screw setting. I will also check my timing. Does the choke setting mess with how the engine idles?
I usually don't do tech comments or reserve them for specific people, but once in a while I'm not in a super chitty mood.
Idle speed, theoretically on the design table, isn’t based on how smooth the engine idles at however low of a speed. Idle speed is determined by the minimum standing inertia the engine needs for the best performance.
For instance, I can drop my idle down to about 350-375 with smooth operation. (Actually it sounds pretty badass at that speed, like a predator lurking the bushes trying not to draw attention by breathing.) The problem is that it won’t ‘wake up’ as quick because the lack of standing inertia.
You also mention checking/adjusting timing, something that affects engine idle. This opens doors where it has been obvious in the past that I am wasting my time making comments. With that, keep in mind that timing adjustments affect idle speed.
Merv, There you go. That's keeping it in your pants . Just gotta remember, there are more people that know how to use a computer these days than know how to fix a car.
Someone needs to order some happy pills. I will play around with it. The car runs great, just playing around with things to learn and to get a better feel of how things work.
.
